Hollow Mystery For Mars Rover (Hollow Grains)

New Scientist ^ | 1-19-2004 | David L Chandler

[blam]

Hollow mystery for Mars rover

13:27 19 January 04

NewScientist.com news service

The Mars rover Spirit has completed its first full set of scientific measurements with the instruments on its robotic arm, revealing mysterious hollow grains in the soil.

The one-metre arm used its microscope to take a close-up image of an undisturbed patch of soil next to the NASA rover. It shows mostly sand-sized particles, but with a large number of apparently hollow spheres or tubes. The image resolution is about 30 microns per pixel - about the width of a human hair.

Such grains were completely unexpected. But John Grotzinger, a geologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says they closely resemble formations he has seen in soils in the southwestern deserts of the US. "There are little tubes that build up by capillary action," he told New Scientist, as salty water evaporates from the nearly-dry soil.

The Martian grains must also be strong enough to withstand the region's strong winds and perpetual scouring by dust devils - tornado shaped vortexes that can tower to heights of kilometres.

Triple point

The pressure and temperature conditions at Spirit's landing site, Gusev crater, are close to the triple point of water, Grotzinger says. This means any water present could change phase between solid, liquid and gas in response to small changes in conditions, and it is an area whose temperatures vary widely during the daily and seasonal cycles.

Interactive Mars

Pure liquid water cannot be stable at the site under present conditions, says Grotzinger. But a brine might be as the dissolved salts would change the freezing and boiling temperatures.

Other scientists suggested in 2003 that brines in the soil might explain other puzzling Martian features seen in images taken from orbit by Mars Global Surveyor. These are thousands of dark gully-like streaks seen on the walls of some craters and canyons.

But Grotzinger warns that it is far too early to rule out alternative explanations, such as dust that has been clumped together by electrostatic forces. This has previously been suggested to explain some crusty soil seen by the Pathfinder lander in 1997.

But, whatever is causing these unusual features, Grotzinger believes the rover's multiple spectrographic tools and trench-digging capabilities give it a very good chance of finding out.

David L Chandler

[Darksheare]

I didn't do it!
It's NOT my fault!
"Darksheare's Fault" isn't up there as a keyword, see?
Not my fault this time.

[Johnny_Cipher]

My wife walked in while i was utilizing my improvised 3D glasses ( red cellophane draped over one lens of my glasses and holding a blue folder over the other side). She now believes that I have lost my mind.

Mine came to that conclusion years ago. As far as the 3D glasses, I found some red and blue clear Mylar, cut it to the right shape, and used spray adhesive to affix it to an old pair of eyeglasses. Those cheesy paper-framed glasses never worked for me.

[TXnMA]

(I haven't been able to find 3-D glasses, anywhere!)\

Checi out the kiddie 3-D storybooks in your local stores.

I just borrowed a pair of the cardboard.red/blue glasses for the "martian duration"

...one of the many benefits of having grandkids... :-)

[Old Professer]

What are you doing on FR while you're on your honeymoon?

[lonevoice]

I didn't know there was a Mars ping list. Yippee! Please add me.

[Darksheare]

What?!
Isn't that a sign of FR addiction?
(Where IS that thread "Signs you're addicted to FR" I could SWEAR that "FReeping during honeymoon" was on that list..)

[My back yard]

Yeah, static electricity is a thought too. Common clusters in dry high charged dust, one would think.

[Darksheare]

Still, weird.
And hollow granule spheres tends to remind me of diatom skeletons.
But this is dirt instead of calcium.

[My back yard]

Magnetite is possible, so grains sticking together and stacking may be evidence of magnetite existing somewhere.

Face On Mars?

Or is it just one of God's big toys? --

[My back yard]

yeah, still weird. But properties of dust/wind are so the same as properties of water/silt.

[Professional Engineer]

Ya'll are getting cerebral like on me aren't ya'.

[My back yard]

I found some red and blue clear Mylar, cut it to the right shape, and used spray adhesive to affix it to an old pair of eyeglasses.

Cool idea.

[Darksheare]

Possibly one of HIS toys.
Just look at the Aardvark, echidna, platypus, and pangolin.
HE just HAS to have a sense of humor..

[Darksheare]

Umm.. no.
Never.
And it's still not my fault.
*chuckle*

[My back yard]

Just look at the Aardvark, echidna, platypus, and pangolin.
HE just HAS to have a sense of humor..

hell, just look at me. ;)

[Darksheare]

Yes.
The scrape from the airbacks in the dust resembles a 'clay slide'.
Kinda like when it rains lightly and there's surface mud but the stuff undernath is dry.
Step on the surface and it stick to your shoes leaving the dry subsurface exposed.

Since that is similar, I'd suspect we'll be surprised with other similar physicalities.

[Darksheare]

*LOL!*
Uh oh.

[Outlaw76]

" I recall that when I was in the Air Force we frequently cited a hair-diameter standard that was finer than normal."

Yes, the unit of measurement was the RCH, and it was determined by a specific color of hair and the location from wich it was located.

[OrioleFan]

Presidential Candidate Hwrrrd Dnnne stated, "We need to look into amnesty for the illegal aliens on our soil.", while Candidate Wsssllly Cllrrrkk said, "If I were President this landing would not have occurred."